Lex felt awkward for the duration of the fight between the occupants of the castle and the beasts made of Ice magic. She couldn't stop glancing over her shoulder to make sure that Zelda was still watching her, and though she knew that Zelda would always be there, she found herself looking regardless. The striking gaze of the brown-haired woman bothered her in a way that she couldn't quite describe, and Lex couldn't help but feel her skin crawl when she thought about what their conversation would potentially involve. She knew that Zelda wasn't going to hurt her, but her nerves were still oddly stifling. Lex had never been the type to worry much about what happened around her, but this was the exception, and she hated it more than she could hope to articulate at the heart of a battle.
Zelda threw a sphere of purple energy through the window, and Lex looked over at her with a light sigh. She wished that she knew what was going on inside of Zelda's head, but she didn't think that she had a way of prying into Zelda's thoughts until after the battle ended. She was going to make herself anxious if she spent too much longer trying to pull herself away from her musings about Zelda.
The magical energy of the room shifted itself, and Lex felt partially as if she had been punched in the stomach and forced to cope with the aftermath. She glanced around in confusion, wondering what had happened. Lex yelped when she was forced to duck down and throw her arms over her head to avoid a slash from an icy claw in her direction. Zelda followed up by removing her swords from their sheaths and slashing at the offending hand, and Lex gave her a grateful glance as soon as she was able to pull her energy together.
"The magical core that powers this castle was disturbed," Zelda murmured when she noticed Lex's confusion. "That's how large places like this run. I don't know what we're supposed to do to counteract all of this, but it would be for the best if we kept our composure and kept fighting with everything that we have. Do what you can to keep fighting back."
Lex nodded. She felt another shiver down her spine at the way that Zelda spoke with her, and she almost wondered if she was about to be sick. The nausea pulled at the corners of her stomach and left her with no easy way to rid herself of her own paranoia. She forced the thought away by conjuring a small fireball into one hand, and Lex chucked it through the window as soon as Zelda gave her an opening to attack through. Lex heard a feral screech from one of the ice monsters, and she let out a sigh of relief when she realized that she had been saved from her own struggles for at least a few moments. That was more than enough as far as Lex was concerned. She would find a way out of this. That was how she had always functioned. If she could just hold on for a few moments later, she would be fine.
Zelda took her place in front of the window and created a sphere of purple energy. She tossed it downwards and watched as the icy beasts were sent flying outwards from the powerful momentum. Lex heard the creatures scream as they made contact with the nearby wall of the outside of the castle. She smiled to herself, hating that she had actually enjoyed hearing the sound of the screeches. Then again, if they weren't actually alive, it wasn't quite as twisted for her to be okay with listening to it, right?
Lex chose to not question her morality in the heat of the battle, and she hurled another fireball as soon as Zelda stepped back. Their fighting dynamic was far better than Lex had realized, and she had to confess that the other girl knew what she was doing on a battlefield. She had seen Zelda fight many times during the war on Daragon, but it seemed to take on a whole new meaning this time for reasons that Lex couldn't quite define.
"There are so many of them," Lex whispered as soon as she caught a glimpse of the ground below. The icy creatures were starting to mount on top of each other to make their way towards the windows that they were being attacked from. The beasts had little intelligence as far as Lex could tell, but they were still starting to learn about how to stop the attacks from their enemies. She winced as another claw came her way, and she created a blast of fire that slammed into the hand and sent it flying backwards.
"They aren't alive. We're going to be able to defeat them easily. As long as we can hold our defensive lines, we'll be fine," Zelda assured her, taking on an oddly maternal tone that struck Lex to her core. The blonde Clan Leader looked up at her in shock, not understanding why Zelda was suddenly being so openly kind to her. What could have influenced the changed decision of her companion? It was certainly something significant enough to influence her consistent passive detached attitude, and all Lex could do was stare at her. She was bound to find the answers soon enough, but it bugged her more than she was willing to admit.
"Yeah," Lex whispered as she nodded to herself. She tried to push herself back into the fray soon afterwards, but Zelda had already taken her place at the window, forcing Lex to wait until she was done. Lex let out a sigh, a physical manifestation of unexpected impatience, and she realized that her breath was fogging up as a cloud in front of her mouth. She let out a gasp, and the action repeated itself. She winced at the sight of the show of cold weather, and Lex realized that she hadn't even noticed it.
"They're trying to freeze us in," Zelda explained when she noticed that Lex was shocked. "You have Fire magic. Of course it doesn't impact you. Be careful to stay out of the line of fire even so. Your powers can only protect you so much."
Lex nodded slowly and closed her eyes for a moment as she focused on stoking the flames within. She wasn't anywhere near as talented with Fire magic as Jayler was. In fact, Lex had only started to actively practice after they got back home from the war on Daragon. She had seen Jayler doing it in moments when he thought nobody was watching, and she had taken up the habit after a while. She wasn't meant to be using much Fire magic due to her bloodline, but she was glad that she had been making attempts prior to this fight. Lex wasn't great at it, but she could tell that her brief stunts of practice were making the battle easier than it otherwise would have been.
After that, Zelda and Lex fell into a silent routine of sending out blows and then leaving openings for the other to attack through. It was strange how easily they were able to understand the rhythm of one another on the battlefield, and it only made Lex's curiosity regarding Zelda grow stronger. She wished that there was a way for them to talk before the end of the battle, but since such was not meant to be, Lex turned her attention to fighting with everything that she had. Even if she couldn't speed up the fight so the conversation would come sooner, Lex would do what she could, and that was what everyone, including Zelda, needed most from her in those precious moments.
~~~~~
A group of Fearbringers wound up taking over for Arian's group. He was beyond relieved to see the other fighters even if he didn't know their names. He knew that his team had other things to take care of, and he wouldn't be able to accomplish anything if they were stuck blocking off the large number of windows in their segment of the castle.
The world itself seemed to fall apart as Arian ran through the castle. He was still with Jubilee, Colt, Ocean, and Xia as they made their way towards the front of the building. Arian knew what they were doing, but he still found himself feeling uncertain from the possibility of everything falling apart. In theory, it was a simple task. He simply had to get to the front of the castle with the rest of his little group so that they could help to block off the door along with the team that could be found there. Alba was bound to move in their direction soon since that was the easiest way to get into the building, and Arian wasn't about to let them break through the defensive line. The mere idea made him feel nauseous, and he wasn't about to give in. The castle was too important to keep safe for that to happen.
The journey to the front door was both too fast and agonizingly slow, something that Arian found to be a cruel twist of fate as he continued to slam his feet against the ground below. He was sprinting at full speed, but he wasn't moving fast enough. Or was he going too fast? He couldn't tell. His brain was little more than a numb afterthought, and nothing seemed to matter quite as much as the possibility of Alba managing to break into the castle to destroy everything they had worked towards. He had just arrived at the palace, and Arian didn't want any of it to crumble. They had spent so long trying to get the Skylian Mages together, and this was their first mission after such a task was accomplished. He had to stay focused.
"Here we are," Jubilee suddenly said, giving a sideways glance to Arian as the group slid to a stop. He let out a sigh when he slid to a stop, not realizing just how much his lungs ached until after he had forced himself to keep from moving. Each breath sent a sharp pain shooting through his abdomen, and Arian had to force himself to focus on the crack in the door to keep from getting sick over the agony. He hadn't ever been good with his own suffering, and this situation was no exception. He needed a break. Or maybe he needed to curl up in a secluded corner of the world for the rest of his days and wait for all of this to be over. Both of them felt like good options, and Arian wanted to embrace whatever would allow him to stop feeling so damn nauseous due to the pain in his stomach.
It took Arian a bit too long to gain a hold of his surroundings. He didn't realize that they were with Lana, Ronan, Gemini, and Luke until after a few seconds had passed. Arian bit down on his lip as soon as he realized that Jay wasn't with them. Judging by process of elimination, there were two Clan Leaders missing from the scene as well, though Arian was too confused and dazed to bother asking other questions. He knew that he would be able to meet the Clan Leaders after the fight ended, and surviving the incoming onslaught was his first priority. He couldn't get distracted. He had already made that mistake arguably, but Arian didn't want it to get any worse.
"What are you doing here?" Lana questioned as she took a few steps away from the door. Arian could hear the panic in her voice, and he had to say that he hated the way that she sounded so afraid. The Lana that he knew was chipper yet composed, someone who he could count on to be logical in even the most dismal of situations. He had certainly needed that during the Cryai situation, and yet, she was unable to provide it in that instant. Somehow, that made Arian feel even worse than before, and he clamped his lips shut to keep from showing how sick he felt to the rest of the group.
"The commander of the enemy faction is here," Colt replied bluntly. "That's all that you really need to know. Come on. We have to make sure that nobody manages to get through the gate. How solidified are the doors? Do you think that they'll be able to sustain a few direct hits? It would be good for us to make sure that the doors won't cave if this Alba figure decides to step out of the shadows."
Ronan's expression flickered with panic, and Arian couldn't help but wish that he had more to say to the young Skylian Mage. Out of all the members of their group, Ronan was easily the most inexperienced, and Arian hated that he was being forced into combat after barely ever needing to fight. Still, he knew that this wasn't a choice that he could influence given the situation, so Arian continued to stay silent even as Ronan spoke. "What?!" Ronan squeaked, the word coming out more like a cry from a small animal than a person.
"It's an Ice mage by the name of Alba," Ocean explained. Her expression showed worry while her voice was overflowing with a panic barely held together by a thin veil of composure resting over the top without any sense of care. She was trying to keep from scaring everyone else, but Arian was no stranger to fear, and he could see just how terrified she was. "We have to make sure that they don't get in here. The magical core has already been tampered with. They're trying to freeze us while we're still inside."
"Bold move on their part," Gemini snorted with a shake of her head. "Fine then. If that's how they want to play it, then we're just going to have to find a way to get them out as soon as possible. We were going to try and find out as much more about Alba as we could before this battle took place, but I guess that we don't have any other options at this point. Let's just get rid of them before they can cause any other problems for us."
"The doors should be stable enough to take about three direct hits, but we're going to need more than one Metal mage if we want to seal it shut with more fortification than we already have," Lana replied quickly after Gemini was done speaking. She glanced out over the four Clan Leaders in the area before wincing. "It seems that we don't have the Clan Leader with Metal magic here. Does anybody know where we can find him? Getting Jay would certainly help out as well. They're going to have the best chances of shutting the door aside from the Metal Draconic Superior. We have to find them as soon as possible to make sure that we can sustain these hits if Alba gets frisky enough to attack the building directly."
"Regardless of if they're together or not, it's going to take too much time for us to find them," Luke pointed out. "We have to do what we can to keep defending the doors even if it means that we don't have their help. There has to be another way for us to block off the door to keep Alba from getting inside, right?"
"Freezing the doors shut wouldn't do us any good," Lana whispered. "Our enemies can use Ice magic, after all. That will just play right into their hands and give them more power over the blockade since they'll be able to tear the doors from their hinges if we aren't careful. If we can't fortify our defenses, then we're only going to have one choice here. We've got to drive them off before they can get any closer than they already have."
"How are we supposed to get rid of them? They aren't even alive!" Arian cried out, trying not to sound too anxious despite his mounting panic. "We can't just hit them once and then call it good! They're just going to keep coming back unless we can find a way to defeat the one who's been conjuring them and keeping everything going all this time!"
"We've got to find some way to pull that off," Xia told him, her voice as intense as could be. "Somebody in here has to be able to get through the enemy's defenses and defeat Alba before they can keep summoning the damn things. Nobody ever said it was going to be easy, but I think that's the only way we're going to be able to save ourselves from this attack."
"But Alba is a Lakinya! How are we supposed to defeat someone who is on the same power level as Mersall? It took us ages to defeat him, and even so, we were only barely able to do it!" Luke cried out. He was the anxious one all of a sudden, and Arian was distantly aware of the way that the redhead paced along the length of the room. "There has to be some other way for us to get rid of Alba without defeating them outright... We're at a disadvantage here. The second that we step outside, they're going to be ready to blast us to a million pieces, and that's probably the best outcome that they have planned for us right now."
"If we can't kill Alba, then we'll have to find another way to get them to turn tail and run away," Xia declared, crossing her arms over her chest. "If we can injure them enough to make them retreat, then that should be enough for now. We aren't going to be able to kill them now like you said, but we most certainly can force them to retreat. If you ask me, that's going to be our best bet for the time being anyways. Do you have any ideas about how we can pull that off?"
"How we can do it? Absolutely not," Jubilee snorted as she turned her attention to the doors. She could see ice starting to creep along the outer edges, a sign that Alba was trying to expand their influence over the building. She walked towards the doors and pressed her palms firmly against the surface, a growl forming in the back of her throat. "Our group can't pull something like that off as long as we're still trying to keep Alba out of the front door. We have to try something else... Well, not us specifically. Somebody else will have to do it."
"In other words, somebody else in the castle has to do it, but how are we supposed to pass on the message that Alba is here without leaving the door without enough attention to keep the enemy out?" Ronan asked. "If we send a single person away, then that should be enough, I suppose, but how do we know who will even be suited for the job?"
"If anyone is going to strike Alba from afar, they're going to need to be able to hit them from inside the castle with a single blow. If we give them a chance to adjust, then they're going to realize what we're up to, and we can't have that happen if we want to win in this fight," Colt pointed out. "I'm hoping that we'll be able to figure out someone with enough accuracy to take care of it before Alba notices. They'll have to be fast too, and that could very easily prove itself to be a problem."
"What I'm hearing here is that we're completely screwed!" Arian exclaimed in despair. He wasn't cut out for this. He knew that he wasn't meant to fight. Even if he had been created for combat purposes, that didn't mean that he was any good at it, and as far as Arian was concerned, he had to be one of the worst fighters to ever grace the Galaxy of Hyperion. Why in the world had Lyloc thought that he would be a good fit for the position of a Skylian Mage? He knew that he wasn't deserving of the spot. If he couldn't even remain composed in the face of a crisis, then what was he supposed to do when things inevitably got worse?
"Let's focus on fortifying the doors for now, okay?!" Jubilee snapped when she turned her head over her shoulders. "I really do hate to interrupt your mounting panic, Arian, but we need to make sure that those things don't get in here! They're trying to freeze us in here, but if they get inside, things are going to get a whole lot worse for us in the blink of an eye! I would suggest trying to help me keep this door shut!"
Arian forced himself to calm down, doing his best to not think too much about Jubilee's sharp tone. She was stressed because this was a dismal situation. He repeated as much to himself as many times as he could before he followed her lead and started to pour as much magic as he could into the door. They had to keep their enemies out at all costs, and Arian was going to do his best to keep everything from falling apart. After all, if he couldn't keep his composure at a time like this, what was he supposed to do when the future presented him with worse problems?
~~~~~
"Who is that?" Lex questioned after she dealt a fiery punch to a nearby beast of ice. She pointed towards a figure that seemed notably human among the crowd of creatures, and her heart skipped a beat. Something deep down told her that the person, whoever they were, wasn't there to help the castle's occupants to win the coming battle.
"If I had to wager a guess, I would say that it's Alba," Zelda replied, her expression growing strained as soon as she noticed what Lex was talking about. "They're the one sending all of the Ice magic monsters after us. They must have figured out that we're trying to find out more about them, and that's their reasoning behind this attack. It all lines up a bit too well."
"If we can get rid of them, then maybe we'll be able to stop the attacks for now," Lex suggested. "Do you think that we would be able to get a clean hit in from here? I know that we're kind of far away, but it seems to me like Alba is pretty distracted with the front doors of the castle. Now could be our perfect chance to strike through their defenses with an attack that they don't see coming until it's too late."
Zelda hummed in response. "It's worth a shot. We have no way of saying if it'll work or not unless we try. It isn't as if they don't know that we're here. They've been trying to stamp us all out, and it wouldn't do much of anything to give away our position. They're too focused on overseeing the operation as a whole to bother pursuing anyone in particular, so let's use that to our advantage," she said. Lex had to confess that she was surprised to see Zelda so talkative. It was a desperate time, but it was still odd to see Zelda saying so much in one shot. She had gotten used to the Fearbringer's dark demeanor, but perhaps Lex had jumped to conclusions when she thought Zelda wasn't someone to be too casual around.
"You're going to have a better chance of getting a good shot in, if I'm being honest," Lex told her. "I'm decent with magic, but you've got far more experience than me, and you're great with accuracy too. Why don't you give it a try? I'll do what I can to cover for you."
Zelda nodded her understanding, and she began to concentrate her energy into the tip of one finger. She began to aim in the direction of Alba, and her eyes narrowed as soon as she realized that everything was lined up properly. She created an arrow of magic from the tip of her finger, and it was left to spiral through the air in Alba's direction. Lex could only watch with a relieved smile on her face at the thought that perhaps the battle was finally about to end.
~~~~~
Jay had taken to fighting with any energy blasts that she could muster from her place near the top floor of the castle, and Jayler was firm at her side. There weren't any of the monsters high enough up for them to get in direct hits, but they could still rain down spells from above. Jay preferred fighting in melee range, but if she got close enough to swing a sword at her enemies, she would be close enough for them to tear her to shreds, and she wasn't about to take such chances.
A figure had appeared from the crowd, and Jay glared at the person in question. She couldn't see many details because of how far away she was, but she could tell that the one she was watching couldn't have been good news. She glanced over to Jayler in hopes that he would have answers for her.
"That has to be Alba," Jayler whispered as soon as he noticed that Jay was waiting for an explanation. "Seems to me like we've found out who's leading the enemy forces, and they aren't someone that we want to get too close to. Then again, I feel like that's something you were able to pick up on given that we're fighting them from back here instead of getting near them or leaving the castle..."
"They're just going to keep sending monsters after us until we can take them out," Jay told Jayler, her eyes narrowing intensely. "I'm going to see if I can get rid of them. If we can injure them enough to the point that they have to retreat, then we're going to be able to free ourselves from what they've been doing. Even a temporary reprieve will help us out a lot at this point, especially with the castle's core frozen over as it is."
Jayler nodded slowly. He didn't seem to be fully processing what Jay was saying, but if he didn't understand her words, he chose not to show it. He snapped his fingers and created an orb of Fire magic before sending it spiraling downwards towards the nearest cluster of Ice beasts. There was a large explosion that followed, and Jayler smiled at the sound of the monsters letting out shrill shrieks of pain before they completely fell to pieces. "I trust that you know what you're doing here," he said when he glanced in his sister's direction a few moments later.
Jay steeled herself at his words, and her chest filled with something warm and lovely that reminded her quite a bit of the hope that she had come to know so long ago. She began to tap into her Blade magic, and a bow and arrow formed themselves from nowhere. Jay wasn't the best with magic as a whole, but Blade abilities were among her favorites to practice because of how heavily tied they were with her regular fighting style. She could swing a sword around easily, and she certainly appreciated the increase to her power that came with Blade magic.
Jay began to concentrate on aiming her next strike so that she didn't miss. After all, if she didn't hit Alba, chances were that she wouldn't get another chance for quite some time. That would put Alba on guard, and they would know it if anyone tried to lash out at them again. It was their only choice if they wanted to survive as a group, and Jay wasn't about to let everyone down.
When she released the arrow, Jay was aiming for the area just to the right of Alba's heart. She watched as the weapon spun rapidly towards its target, and she was shocked to see that a beam of energy shaped similar to her arrow had been sent towards Alba as well. She didn't know who had sent it out, but she wasn't going to complain.
When both of the attacks made contact with Alba's body, Jay smiled to herself. Even if she couldn't hear the cry of agony that came with the impacts, Jay knew that this was a sign of success. The Ice magic creatures immediately began to fall apart, and Jay realized that Alba's magic was being forced out of its other forms to return to its owner. After all, significant amounts of magic would be needed to heal an arrow wound to the stomach and a matching wound to the shoulder. Jay's had been the one to hit Alba's stomach, and she took a strange amount of pride in the way that she saw blood begin to pool around Alba's hand after they curled an arm around the injury.
It only took a single flash of energy for Alba to disappear, and the rest of the icy monsters vanished along with them. Jay let out a sigh of relief and glanced over to Jayler to see that he was just as excited. He raised his hand for a fist bump, and Jay found herself returning the gesture before she could stop herself. She hadn't expected herself to reach out that way, but she didn't object to it in the slightest.
Instead, Jay closed her eyes and let out a slow sigh. The battle was over, but she knew that this was just the start of her struggles in the palace. They had survived for the time being, but it was only a matter of time before another fight took place, and Jay already wasn't looking forward to it. She didn't think that anyone was.
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Updates are nice
-Digital